NASA 2015 Budget

On March 4, 2014, the White House released the proposed NASA budget for 2015. Although it still must be approved by congress, it highlights the future for the agency. According to the proposal, NASA would receive $17.5 billion, which is $200 million less than 2014. So, how does that compare to previous years budgets? Although the number seems like a lot, the key factor to look at is the percentage of the total budget, which is shown on the chart below.

Having conducted an unscientific poll of interviews with random strangers, a majority of people who responded believed that NASA was receiving too much money. They were surprised to learn that the $17.5 billion is less than half of one percent of the total budget as seen above. However, to clarify, let’s put this into perspective. Here is how NASA’s budget compares to some of the major companies in the world. A preview is listed below, but for the full chart, please click here:

Another way to look at the budget is to see where our taxes go. One instance is to the states we live in. If the NASA budget were a states budget, how would it compare? Below is a map of all 50 states with the NASA budget illustrated as a percentage of each state’s budget. As noted, red states have a lower budget, green states have a higher budget, and yellow states are equal to or very close to the NASA budget.

It’s been shown that NASA’s budget isn’t as high as people thought, especially in comparison. However, with the space shuttle program having ended in 2011, is NASA still flying? The short answer is yes. There are people in space, rovers on Mars, and satellites looking at Earth from orbit and from the edge of the solar system. That’s great and all, but what benefits does NASA have back on Earth? How does NASA help us in our every day life? Below is a timeline showing some of NASA’s major accomplishments and what benefit they’ve returned to us on Earth.